CRN Channel News

Provides platform for composite apps

Westcon Group has named Brian Weisfeld senior vice president of corporate operations. In the role, Weisfeld now oversees the corporate activities of Westcon Group, reporting directly to Alan Marc Smith, president and CEO.

Plantronics wants some respect in the channel. As a dominant manufacturer of handsets, Plantronics is trying to sway solution providers to put more focus on bundling headsets with PCs connected to telephony applications. As part of that effort, the company recently showcased wireless headsets that can be used with VoIP applications. In an interview with CRN Editor in Chief Michael Vizard, Plantronics CEO Ken Kannappan talks about why a market that grew 40 percent last year,with Plantronics shipping more than 14 million units,is going to keep expanding.

KVMs once were used mainly in data centers where administrators needed to control multiple computers from a single keyboard, mouse and monitor. KVMs are still used in data centers, but new technology has pushed them down to smaller network installations.

Japan's Fair Trade Commission raided the offices of the Japanese unit of Intel on Thursday looking for evidence that the chip giant is illegally pressuring PC makers to avoid using competitors' processors.

Three former Computer Associates executives admitted Thursday that they fraudulently recorded hundreds of millions of dollars worth of contracts in a broad conspiracy to inflate the software company's quarterly earnings.

Research In Motion (RIM), the developer of BlackBerry e-mail devices and mobile enterprise e-mail platforms, reported today a 37 percent revenue increase in the just-completed quarter compared to the previous quarter. It also announced a two-for-one split in its stock shares.

Microsoft and Micro Focus International have teamed up to enable mainframe customers to seamlessly migrate their data to Windows platforms. In a prepared statement, the companies said the alliance provides the technology foundation for moving mainframe workloads to more modern Intel and Windows-based servers, using .Net.

Progress Software is among the fastest-growing software vendors in the industry today, thanks largely to its focus on helping solution providers build applications for specific vertical markets. In its most recent quarter, overall revenue was up 20 percent and software license revenue was up 33 percent compared with a year ago. In an interview with CRN Editor in Chief Michael Vizard, Progress CEO Joe Alsop and Vice President of Data Management Products for the Progress Company, Ken Rugg, outline Progress' approach to partners and changes in data-management trends.

The Federal Communications Commission is moving closer to resolving the growing interference problems plaguing the nation's public-safety radio channels. To that end, an announcement is expected next week that Nextel Communications Inc.-identified as the main interference producers--will be given permission to move services from portions of the crowded 800-MHz spectrum, where many public-service organizations operate.